Balboa Peninsula

A passenger on a 28-foot sailboat escaped unscathed after the boat beached in shallow water and sank off Balboa Peninsula, authorities said Thursday. The boat was discovered rocking in the surfline off F Street about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Newport Beach Fire Department. The sailboat's skipper was on shore at the time, according to the Fire Department. Orange County Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol deputies and Newport Beach lifeguards tried to pull the boat out of the inshore trench where it was stuck, fire authorities said.

Firefighters are working on putting out a Friday afternoon house fire on the Balboa Peninsula, a Newport Beach Fire Department official said. The fire broke out on the roof of a house on J Street sometime after 4:30 p.m., said NBFD Spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz. It was not yet clear if anyone had been injured in the blaze and how much had been damaged. —Lauren Williams

A pile of debris caused a house fire Monday in Newport Beach that stopped traffic and caused $20,000 worth in damages, authorities said. Firefighters responded to a call from a neighbor reporting a fire in the 200 block of East Balboa Boulevard about 2:26 p.m., the Newport Beach Fire Department said in a news release. When firefighters arrived they discovered the blaze extended from the patio of the Balboa Peninsula home to the attic. Two traffic lanes on East Balboa Boulevard were rerouted for about 30 minutes while firefighters extinguished the fire.

NEWPORT BEACH — A certified farmers market is coming to Lido Marina Village on Sunday. The hope is that the market, located in the shopping center on the northern end of the Peninsula, will pump more life into the promenade, a rustic-looking, cobble-stoned, open-air quarter dotted with shops and businesses. The market will feature a dozen farmers selling fruits and vegetables and is scheduled to open at 9 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. City and Chamber of Commerce officials are expected to be on hand for the big day. Posters around town have been promoting the event for several weeks, displaying a fat red tomato.

Young Chang BALBOA PENINSULA -- Donald Wayne Moses had his wife post signs on the door to their barbershop in recent weeks that read, "I'm coming back." He was worried about customers he had served for 43 years, customers who had relied on him to cut their hair and to be a friend as the tresses were trimmed. While at Hoag Hospital for pancreatic cancer treatment this month, he asked wife Linda to find a new barber to take care of his "friends," just in case.

June Casagrande BALBOA VILLAGE -- Some say they've made a huge difference, others say they've made no difference at all. To ease the burden on Balboa Peninsula merchants while roadwork is underway, the city has made free many metered parking spots, put up banners announcing businesses are open and made a few other changes. "Nothing is going to help down here until the work's over," said Maggie Allison, co-owner of Balboa Market, who said she has seen about a 40% decline in business since roadwork began in November.

Newport Beach police will conduct a driving under the influence checkpoint Friday night on Newport Boulevard. From 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. police will be stationed on northbound Newport Boulevard at Finley Avenue screening drivers for various vehicle code violations and to see who’s driving under the influence. The checkpoint was located for its proximity to bars and restaurants on the Balboa Peninsula, among other reasons, police said. Checkpoints don’t necessarily equal more arrests for DUI, but do tend to reduce the number of people who choose to drink and drive, officials said.

Over 100 Artists from Southern California Plein Air Painters Association Participated (Newport Beach, CA) - The popular plein air competition at the Balboa Peninsula included a week long Paint Out from September 7 to September 11, 2008 around the Balboa Peninsula, a two-hour Quick Draw on September 12 at the historic Balboa Fun Zone, and a weekend Fine Art Show and Sale in front of the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum. Two local well-known artists juried the shows for the week-long Paint Out and Quick Draw competion: Cynthia Britain juried the Paint Out, and Michael Obermeyer juried the Quick Draw.

Police have been unable to stop nearly 40 residential burglaries on the Balboa Peninsula since the first of the year, and residents with unlocked doors and windows continue to be the victims. In the latest “Crime Alert” distributed by the Newport Beach Police Department, authorities said since June they have seen 17 more burglaries on the peninsula where laptops or other expensive items were stolen. More than a dozen laptops were stolen from June 6 to Aug. 28 in homes on the peninsula; most of the time the burglar got in through unlocked doors, sliding glass doors or open windows.

The historic Balboa Village filled with new energy Sunday afternoon, as business owners gathered under white tents to offer passersby everything from lobster rolls to boating artwork. The event, called a Kickoff Fiesta, celebrated the upcoming Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. It also marked a chance to promote ongoing revitalization efforts on the Balboa Peninsula — an area sometimes better known for its plethora of bars and unruly twenty-somethings than for kid-friendly activity.

By Emily Foxhall and This post has been corrected, as noted below. | April 7, 2014

The Newport Beach Bay Station Post Office is seeking a change of address. Located on Riverside Drive near West Coast Highway, the post office loses its lease Nov. 9, and the landlord has declined to negotiate a new one, U.S. Postal Service officials said. The lease includes two locations in the Mariner's Center, said Richard Maher, a Post Office spokesman. One is a stand-alone building where post office boxes are housed. The other, in the corner of the shopping center, includes P.O. boxes and a counter where customers can buy stamps, envelopes and boxes.

The old Newport Beach council chambers, which have sat largely vacant for more than a year, came to life once again on a recent Sunday. Mayor Rush Hill was not present to call the meeting to order. The voting buttons on the dais - "yes", "no" and "abs" - went unused. About 5 p.m., two hours earlier than a City Council meeting usually starts, attendees began filing into the rows of auditorium-style chairs. But they didn't pick up copies of council agendas as they entered, nor did they come prepared with notes for public comment.

Newport Beach firefighters extinguished a blaze that caused about $20,000 in damage to a guest house on the Balboa Peninsula on Wednesday morning. Eight units responded after a call came in about 11 a.m. reporting the fire in the 1,000-square-foot quarters behind a primary residence in the 300 block of L Street, Newport Beach police said. Firefighters contained the flames to the roof of the guest house and were able to put out the blaze within about 20 minutes of the call. No one was hurt, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Ruth Jolley likes to call it her "little oasis. " At the base of a hillside terraced with grapevines behind her Corona del Mar house, a rainbow of leafy greens basked in the sun one morning last week. Chard and peppery arugula sprouted from one 4-foot by 8-foot raised garden bed, while a kale selection that would make even the hippest foodie's head spin grew in another. Branches of a squat Satsuma orange tree drooped with fruit. A few yards away, snap pea tendrils crawled up a small trellis and bursts of magenta peeked out from beneath French radish leaves.

In a county dominated by the need to drive, a few Newport Beach spots offer late-night revelers something rare: a walkable nightlife. One of these clusters of restaurants and bars lies on the Balboa Peninsula, near the Newport Pier. Patrons have come here for decades - be they neighborhood dwellers, summer renters or residents - to enjoy a vibrant, seaside area where they can move from place to place without getting behind the wheel. Steady streams of people continue to enjoy the often party-like atmosphere the Peninsula provides, yet while the surrounding streets bustle, some who live there have raised complaints about patrons' noise and drunken antics.

Body surfers gathered at The Wedge to pay tribute to the final day of surfing restrictions for the season. This may be the last year for the regulations; they are being reviewed by city officials and are subject to change. As it stands, Newport Beach bans all boards from the ocean at The Wedge, a popular surfing spot at the end of the Balboa Peninsula, from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. from May through October, allowing body surfers free reign over the waves during that time. A committee called the Blackball Working Group has met several times to review the rule - which has remained unchanged for 20 years - and others, as part of an overall evaluation of surfing in Newport Beach.

Friday night was Theo Freidenrich's final graduation from the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard program, which has been a part of his life for five years. The 15-year-old is part of one of the smallest groups of junior lifeguards, the 'A's, who are the oldest and most experienced young guards. At a graduation ceremony that started around dusk on the Balboa Peninsula, Freidenrich stood in front of more than 1,000 junior guards with their parents and detailed a summer filled with learning about Newport, the value of its harbor or beach and, of course, competing in watersports like outrigger canoeing.

Newport Beach Harbor Commissioner Joseph Stapleton announced Thursday that he will run for City Council. Stapleton, 29, plans to seek the District 1 seat held by termed-out Councilman Mike Henn in the November 2014 election. He is the first to put in a bid for the territory that represents and area that includes West Newport, the Balboa Peninsula, The Wedge and Lido Isle, according to City Clerk Leilani Brown. In addition to serving on the Harbor Commission since June, Stapleton is the vice chairman for the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

H.W. WRIGHT, JR. Saturday, June 29, 2013, Harry Ward Wright, Jr., “Hal”, passed away quietly in his sleep with his loved ones by his side. Hal succumbed to complications from a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. In the 1920's and 30's, Hal grew up on the sands of Newport Beach with his parents, Harry Ward Wright, Sr. and Hazel Claire Wright. As a young boy, Hal did not find himself bored as he explored the seashore near the family's diner, Wright's Quick Lunch, located next to the Newport Pier.